5 Ways to Balance Your Hormones Naturally

These are all signs of estrogen dominance, which is a hormone imbalance that affects millions of women.

Even slight excesses in estrogen can cause hormonal imbalances with mild to severe symptoms.

In today’s world, we must make a concentrated effort to balance our hormones since there is so much estrogen dominance from feedlot meat and dairy products, pesticides, plastics, beauty products, carpeting, furniture, industrial waste products, cleaning products and the list goes on and on.

While there are many things in our environment that we have little to no control over, the following are:

5 major ways that will have a powerful effect to help balance our hormones

Seek out pasture raised meats and dairy products.

Meat from feedlot animals is often tainted with large amounts of estrogen and other hormones to fatten the animals. Those hormones get passed down to you when you consume the meat and dairy products. www.localharvest.org is a great resource to seek out local farms in your area so you can consume meat and dairy from healthy pasture raised animals.

Seek out organically grown produce.

The majority of pesticides used in conventional produce are proven endocrine disruptors that mimic estrogen in your body. Look for organically grown produce, especially from the Dirty Dozen. Many small, local farmers don’t use pesticides, but can’t afford the organic labeling, so it’s best to always ask if pesticides are used. I like using this chart because it helps me prioritize which items I should buy organically (the dirty dozen side) and which ones I can get away with buying conventionally (the clean 15 side).

*This chart only measured pesticides and does not take into consideration GMO produce. Please be aware that conventional corn, pineapple and papayas may contain GMO’s. If the produce code number starts with an 8, it’s GMO.

Avoid canned products and plastics containing BPA.

Unless specifically labeled BPA-Free, most canned products contain BPA in their can lining. BPA is another endocrine distruptor that mimics estrogen in the body. BPA can also leech into your food so it’s especially important to store food and liquids in BPA-free alternatives. Glass and stainless steel are great alternatives to plastic (I love THESE containers).

Switch out your personal, beauty and cleaning products to more natural products.

The majority of beauty, personal care and cleaning products contain hormone disrupting chemicals like synthetic fragrances , parabens and other harmful chemicals that are absorbed into your body. Also be aware of aluminum in products like anti-perspirants because the foil can bind and activate estrogen receptors. (I have an easy recipe for homemade deodorant that really works) This is also a wonderful resource for very easy homemade cleaning products that really work.

Invest in a whole house water filter for your tap water.

Tap water contains a major source of pollutants and contaminants like chlorine, fluoride and run-off from estrogen mimicking pesticides. The Environmental Working Group recently conducted a study and found 316 contaminants in water that was supplied to 256 million Americans in 45 different states. Out of those 316 contaminants, 202 are not subject to government regulation or safety standards as set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Please protect yourself and your family and invest in a whole house water filter for your tap water. I recommend THIS one.

I also can’t talk about hormones without talking about the tremendous difference consuming my raw liver “pills” have made in my life. I know this sounds super weird to some of you, but please be open-minded and read my story. It explains why in the world I would ever want to eat raw liver and the dramatic differences I’ve seen since consuming raw liver on a daily basis.

Liver, especially raw liver from healthy, pasture raised animals, is the best food you can consume for healthy hormone production, boosting libido and regaining energy. It’s also, gram for gram, the most nutrient dense food that exists.

Raw Liver has an abundance of B, A, and D Vitamins, all which serve to help detox our liver from excess estrogen and balance hormone production. These are vitamins that most Americans are severely lacking in their diet. It’s no wonder my raw liver pills have made such a difference in my hormones and eliminating my PMS.

If you would like to learn more about balancing your hormones naturally, Quit PMS, written by Lauren Geertsen of Empowered Sustenance, is a book I highly recommend. She gives you all the information you need to heal your hormones in a way that fits your lifestyle. She says, “when given the correct tools and building blocks, our hormones fall into equilibrium and PMS disappears.” In her book, she examines how diet, digestion, and blood sugar balance play major roles in our hormone balance. She also answers your questions on hormone therapy and the pill, tells you how to properly detox (which is key for getting balanced hormones!), gives supplement recommendations and much, much more. This is a wonderful resource to have in your health arsenal.

20 comments

As one who suffers greatly from PMS and perimenopausal problems, I am always striving to do what I can to alleviate the symptoms as naturally as possible. However, having done all I can do in both diet and exercise, I still find myself a victim of the process and feeling as though nothing will ever help. I keep reading all of these promises of help if I’ll just do “blank” or take “blank” and still I am struggling. I’m starting to feel these empty promises are making it harder for me because I go on this cycle of being excited to try something new and promising, only to see a couple of months down the road that I am still exactly where I was before-frustrated and not any closer. I am not doubting that these things are helping someone, just reaching a point of giving up.

Kelli, I totally hear you and you are not alone. While this article and taking liver pills are a great start and something I think everyone seeking to balance their hormones should implement, it’s by no means the end all, be all for everyone. For some it takes months and months and even years to heal. Just like hormonal problems didn’t happen overnight and most likely took years to develop, so is true for the healing process. There also comes a time when it might be a good idea to leave things to experts and seek a holistic doctor who can help and guide you to further supplements and treatments. I wish you all the best!!

I feel your pain. I AM doing all of the above, PLUS taking 6 liver pills a day and am out of whack still. I am trying to also practice Matt Stone’s raising of my basal body temp (and making little to no progress)— BUT I am getting fatter! UGH!!!

Excellent info for younger folks. I’m just teetering into the beginning of menopause. My mom is in a situation where she produces no estrogen on her own. I would love to see an article that focuses on this situation too! I imagine some of the recommendations would still be the same, but others would not. Thanks!!!

Hi Heather! Thanks so much for your feedback! I have been getting a lot of requests for menopause information lately. I am currently reading up on it and have a few more books I want to check out and then I will put a post together on my findings 🙂

Hello, this is fantastic information. I’ve been living this way (tips 1-5) for about 7 years. However, I still have these exact hormone problems. I’ve been in and out of all kinds of doctors and had 3 surgical procedures this year. I’m beyond frustrated. Any thoughts or further advice you might have would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jodie

Thank you for sharing this information!
I also have followed these suggestions for years and hadn’t seen much improvement in symptoms. This past year I began taking a supplement called Estro Factors by Metagenics — once daily. I was little hesitant at first, because it is not inexpensive, BUT it has significantly reduced the symptoms of estrogen dominance. Hopefully this info can help someone else, too.

Thank you so much for this! I am a woman challenged by PCOS for over 15 years. After many years of searching for answers from traditional medicine, I discovered that my empowerment was in learning holistic nutrition and wellness. During my exploration and research into diet and nutrition from the natural perspective, I came across the enlightenment of just how influential hormones are on our health as women. The tips that you gave in this post are so valuable and I will be sharing them with my online community!

Ivy thank you for sharing via your G+ group. Due to symptoms I have been dealing with since puberty, and which intensified after having 3 babies, I am also very passionate about women’s holistic health. I know what works best and that usually includes organic meats, less meat, more high quality fish (i.e., salmon) and lots of dark green leafy veggies (except for cabbage and related veggies which trigger other symptoms) plus a variety of colorful fruits and veggies which includes berries… especially blueberries which contains iron.

Also I see that you talk about body acidity, and I am very conscious about keeping an alkaline environment in my body. Since I made changes in that area a lot of things changed for me, and I feel so much better – including getting rid of blood clots.

I am continuing to learn and grateful for your website as another great resource for me.

Hi Danielle! When you are ready to make them, just take the liver out of the freezer and let the liver thaw a little bit (that just helps make cutting them easier). Then cut them into pill size pieces (about the size of an Advil or so – if you have no problems swallowing pills, you can make them bigger!). After they are cut into pieces, place them in a single layer on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and pop the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 30 minutes or until the liver is completely hard. Once it’s hard, just take it out of the freezer and put the “pills” in a freezer bag or other freezer safe container. Here’s the post for more info: http://www.primallyinspired.com/friday-favorites-frozen-raw-liver-pills/

Hey Katie! Yes, I agree and think holy basil tea is awesome for hormone and thyroid health (and a whole bunch of other things, too). I drink a cup of Tulsi (holy basil) tea every morning and swear by it!
My fav kind, for those reading and are interested —–> http://amzn.to/1ptLtM3

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